The results of dielectric relaxation experiments on benzonitrile, propylene carbonate and butylene carbonate, performed between 228.15 K and 338.15 K in the frequency range 0.1 ≤ ν /GHz ≤ 89 are presented. The spectra of the three liquids can be formally fitted with two relaxation processes. The long relaxation time, τ 1(T), is equally well described by the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann and the mode-coupling theory. However, the parameters differ from literature data for propylene carbonate based on the frequency of maximum dielectric loss. This low-frequency dispersion step is attributed to the essentially isotropic rotational diffusion of the molecular dipole vector with the carbonates exhibiting some inter-molecular association. For butylene carbonate the fast relaxation process, τ2 ≈ 2 ps, partly arises from the rotation of the ethyl side chain. However, for all three liquids the observed high-frequency contribution in the spectra reflects the transition from molecular dynamics governed by free rotation to long-time rotational diffusion.
Print ISSN: 0942-9352
Volume: 214, 09/2000
Pages: 1213